United Teachers Los Angeles protest proposed layoffs



Photographs by David Lyell, Secretary-Elect of United Teachers Los Angeles

imageSeveral hundred educators gathered outside the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters Tuesday to encourage the district to rescind the more than 5,000 layoff notices sent to Los Angeles teachers.

The protest comes in light of Superintendent John Deasy’s proposal of six furlough days in an attempt to salvage some of the lost positions. United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) rejected this proposal, claiming the district has the money to prevent the furlough days and save the lost jobs after California Governor Jerry Brown’s $3 billion increase to the state education budget.

“The district needs to justify why we need these furloughs,” fourth-grade teacher Diana Cervantes, who received a layoff notice this year, told the Daily News. “Up until this point they haven’t been able to do that yet.”

UTLA’s protest, which they referred to as the “Pull the RIFs” rally, took place outside the Los Angeles Board of Education meeting.

Watch a slideshow of photographs from the protest: